by Zara Quentin
When Namaje touched her lightly on the shoulder, Jade was relieved for a distraction from her thoughts. Namaje beckoned her indoors and motioned for her to sit on a cushion at the low table set aside for cooking. There, Jade noticed a bowl full of bright red berries. “You ask,” Namaje said, pointing to the berries and picking up a round stone and board. Jade’s eyes widened as she guessed Namaje was about to teach her about making the Mortisberry paste that she’d used to keep the pain in her shoulder at bay. Namaje’s fingers touched one of the knotted strings hanging around her neck, moving her thumb and forefinger along the knots. The string she touched was the only one that was made from a single colour—red. The exact same colour as the berries in that bowl.
“Is that the recipe for the Mortisberry paste?” Jade asked, guessing that since the strings of her bracelet had been a message, then these necklaces must have more function than mere decoration.
Namaje nodded. Jade watched as she wrapped her hands in a rough cloth, before doing the same. Then Namaje took the bowl of berries and ground them up into a pulp with the stone, careful not to let any of the juice touch her skin. She showed Jade the consistency, how to dilute the strength of it with water, then thicken it to a paste. She allowed Jade to attempt each stage, while warning her about the quantities and the inherent danger of handling the Mortisberries.
Once the paste was prepared, Namaje unwound her hands and dropped the red-stained cloth into a pot of boiling water. Jade did the same.
By the time they finished, Axel was awake and watched while he sipped at the bitter tea that was always brewing above Namaje’s cooking fire.
Jade hovered next to Namaje, fidgeting with the pendants on her neck chain. She wanted to sit next to Axel, yet the idea made her break into a sweat. They hadn’t had a chance to talk, and though he was innocent of Papa’s murder, Jade was nagged by doubts. Zorman had been so sure and there was still so much left unexplained—like what it was he carried in his bag that he was so defensive about. And she still didn’t know how he felt about her. Were they really friends? More than friends? Jade didn’t know what to think and Axel hadn’t given her any clues.
It was Namaje who broke the silence. She held out a woven basket containing the same cloth as she’d just had wrapped around her hands. She pointed to Jade, then at Axel, then held up the now-empty, red-stained bowl which had held the Mortisberries.
“All gone,” Namaje said. “You go. Get more.”
* * *
Jade and Axel walked around the edge of the bubbling mud swamp surrounding the Temple until they reached the south-eastern side. Jade held her nose. During her stay with Namaje, her sense of smell had been somewhat dulled to the sulfuric stench of the boiling mud which permeated the village, but it was worst here at the source.
“How can they live here?” Jade wondered aloud.
Axel caught her eye and made a face. “Isn’t it awful?”
Jade gave a nervous laugh and Axel smiled at her. That look broke the ice between them and when Jade’s arm brushed against Axel’s, she didn’t wrench it away. The distance between them narrowed and Jade’s heart fluttered.
Namaje had said there was a cluster of Mortisberry trees in this part of the forest. She’d been vague with directions when she’d shooed them off together and Jade and Axel wove their way deeper into the forest.
“Aaargh!” Jade cried out as the ground gave way beneath her. She lurched sideways, plunging into cold water. As her head went under she took a gulp of water. Bubbles appeared in front of her eyes as she splashed around desperately. Her leg banged on something hard, and her heart almost leapt from her throat. Her chest expanded, lungs bursting. Then she hit her elbow too. Pushing away from it, her head burst from the water and she gulped down air, eyes wide and staring.
“Are you all right?” Axel reached a hand over to her. Jade grabbed it, then her feet hit the bottom. The water was only chest deep, and she pushed herself to standing. With her other hand she brushed her hair out of her face as water dripped from her. Wide-eyed, she looked at Axel, taking a moment to register what had happened.
Axel’s expression quickly changed from shocked to amused, as he pulled Jade out of the water, panting and coughing. She crawled away from the edge, gritty dirt turning to mud under her hands and knees. She drew several deep breaths before she brushed the water from her arms and legs and shook it out of her wings. “I’m all right,” she finally replied.
When she turned around, Axel was crouched over, examining a narrow channel. “See this?” He pointed to a flat screen of woven reeds, laid over the channel and covered with mud and leaves. “Looks like they’re camouflaging the channel. It runs towards the Temple. The water’s fresh. Maybe they’ve diverted it from the river?”
Jade squeezed a torrent of water from her hair. “For the pools in the Temple?”
Axel nodded. “The Premyans seem uncivilised, but they’re clever. It’s as though they cultivate backwardness for show and cover anything that suggests otherwise.” Axel replaced the cover that Jade had displaced when she’d fallen into the water. “All to hide this place.”
Jade remembered Namaje’s memories of the magnificent Temple that had once sat where the beach camp was now. She remembered it being looted by Travellers, then being removed, brick by brick.
“To protect The Three,” Jade said. It hadn’t worked though. The red Eigot had gone missing despite Kapelton being hidden.
When he’d finished disguising the channel again, Axel came to stand next to her. He put a hand on the small of her back, a light gesture, but it made Jade jump as though she’d been touched by fire. His eyes flicked to hers as he smiled, and he didn’t remove his hand. Jade felt the warmth of it, radiating through her.
They walked a little way further, like this, when she caught sight of a bunch of Mortisberries and pointed them out to Axel. It was only when Jade pulled out the two sets of gloves Namaje had given her before they had set out, that Axel dropped his hand away. He reached out for the gloves, then paused.
Instead, he reached over to pluck at the charms hanging from the neck chain dangling over her shirt. Jade noticed the furrow of his eyebrows and knew exactly what he was looking at, before he said anything.
“I…” she trailed off, hearing her voice croak as she contemplated her confession. Jade covered the charms with her fist. Their fingers brushed as his hand withdrew. She lifted her chin and looked Axel in the eye. “I was angry. I threw the pikorua away.”
Axel tried to shrug, but Jade saw his mouth curve down slightly at the edges, before he attempted a smile.
“Put those gloves on,” Jade told Axel. “Or you’ll lose all sensation in your hands.” Jade opened the oiled leather sack intended for the Mortisberries and started carefully picking the red berries from the tree.
The wind rustled the leaves and a few birds called to each other in the morning air, but it did not lighten the silence between them. Most of the berries were found higher up and soon Jade and Axel were perched on separate branches. They picked the fruit slowly and carefully, trying not to burst the berries or get any juices on their skin. The gloves made dexterity difficult, but Jade remembered the strange numb sensation when she’d touched the berries in the forest. She knew she had to wear them, but it made for slow going. To make things worse, the berries smelt delicious. If it hadn’t been for Michael’s warning about unusual plants, Jade remembered with a pang, she wouldn’t have resisted eating a mouthful. Even knowing they were dangerous, her mouth watered at the scent.
“What are you going to do now?” Axel asked suddenly, bringing Jade out of her own thoughts.
Jade swallowed. The question had been playing on the edge of her mind since she’d returned to Kapelton. She’d pushed it aside, but now it was spoken aloud, there was no more avoiding it. She’d wanted Axel’s advice with her problems, after Papa’s death. Now, her problems caught in her throat and doubts gnawed at the edge of her mind. Could she trust him? Axel had convinced the Premyans t
hat he wasn’t the killer, and he had saved her from that bomb, but what did Zorman know about him?
Jade chewed on her lip, shaking her head. She looked down at Axel, his eyes open, trusting, and concerned. He didn’t seem to be hiding anything, but he’d fooled her before. Or had he? Perhaps it had all been a misunderstanding on Zorman’s part? Perhaps Axel was exactly the person she’d always thought?
She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a breath.
Her shoulders rounded as the thoughts swirled around in her head, draining the energy from her. She was no closer to finding her father’s killer, despite all her promises.
The silence grew and the air between them tightened as though it was going to snap. She knew Axel was waiting for her to respond, but she didn’t know what to say. What was she going to do now? Or course, she had to find the red Eigot and return it to DivineOne, so that Papa could find peace. She also needed to find his killer, to bring her mother justice, and closure. And there was the bomb—someone was trying to kill her too. Jade shivered. Where to start? “I don’t know,” she whispered, finally breaking the silence.
“You shouldn’t have agreed to DivineOne’s request,” Axel said. “Whatever Magnus had agreed to, you’re not bound by it.”
Jade’s mouth dropped open and she looked him squarely in the eyes. “You think I should do nothing?”
Axel shrugged his shoulders. “You have a life back in Taraqa. The company, your family. Let them send someone else looking for it.”
“Like who?” Jade demanded. “Besides, you heard DivineOne, Papa isn’t at peace. The Dragon-Gods won’t allow him to pass over until his mission is accomplished. I can’t let his soul remain that way.”
Axel cleared his throat. “I can see how you would feel that way. But it’s dangerous. Whoever has the Eigot, has killed to keep it. Someone else could have gone… I could have…” Axel’s voice trailed off.
“You?” Jade narrowed her eyes, looking over at him again. Did he want her out of the way? Did he want the Eigot for himself?
As though he could hear her thoughts, Axel let his gaze drop away from her. He reached out to pluck a little bunch of berries from the branch and drop them into the basket. “I know you want justice for your father,” Axel said, without looking up at her. “But Magnus was worried something terrible would happen, and now Travellers have been killed. The Taraqans won’t forget that, not their own being murdered. I haven’t been on Taraqa since the killings started, sure, but I’m guessing the Traveller Force is already calling for revenge. I think Magnus tried to mute the Premyans response, not only to save Travellers from death at their hands, but to stop the revenge they would wreak on Premye. I think he was afraid something terrible would happen to the Premyans.”
Jade chewed on her bottom lip. “The Premyans are pretty well hidden here. Do you really think the Travellers will be able to find their settlement?”
“You did,” Axel pointed out. “The thief did. I almost did, though when I called out for help for you, they came to find me. Anyway, remember what they said at the Temple—the Travellers have taken one of the Premyans. They’ll get what information they need. Then they’ll come.”
Jade frowned. “The Premyans are moving the village.”
Axel shrugged. “The Premyans won’t stop attacking Travellers until they get the Eigot back. The Travellers won’t leave until they’ve had revenge. The best chance of doing that is to find Magnus’ killer so we have the real target for their anger and vengeance.”
“Except I have no idea where to start looking,” Jade said. She remembered the dragonfly, where it was piled in the corner of Namaje’s treehouse with the rest of her filthy clothes. “And after that bomb, I can’t even ask Uncle Z—I don’t trust my dragonfly to get back to him.”
“Zorman sent you that?” Axel looked quickly up at Jade, a look of shock on his face.
“He sends me messages.”
“He sent you a bomb!”
Jade froze, eyes wide. It was as though the world shifted and refocused, everything slightly out of place, yet fitting together exactly. Zorman had been sending her messages and the bomb was delivered via the dragonfly. But Zorman? Jade started to shake her head, remembering all the times Zorman had helped her—when he’d held her in his arms after Neve’s accident, when he’d been the only one there for her after Basalt died. Zorman was her happy, wise, friendly uncle. Her uncle. He wouldn’t try to kill her. He wouldn’t.
“No, that’s not… possible.” Jade stammered. She saw the frown on Axel’s face and the way the muscles in his jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth shut. “Someone else must have intercepted his message and attached the explosive.” Jade reached out to another bunch of berries and picked it roughly from the branch, crushing some of the berries in the process. Liquid dripped down her gloves, like blood.
“It must have been someone in the Squadron camped on the beach.” The words tumbled from her mouth in time with the staccato pulse of her heart. “Cajun and Glade shot at me before—they must have found out about Zorman’s messages and intercepted the dragonfly. Vance ordered them to kill me. He had his orders from someone…” She racked her brain. “Maybe from Denger. Apparently, He never liked Papa.” Jade refused to meet Axel’s eye. She wiped the juice from her gloves, but only smeared it further. “Or, it could have been any one of the Travellers in the Squadron, but only those Travellers camped on the beach would have had the opportunity.”
“It could have been more than one person working together,” Axel said, then cleared his throat. “How well did Zorman get along with Magnus?”
Jade pressed her lips together and gave Axel a searching look. “What do you mean?”
Axel held her gaze, waiting.
“You’re not saying…?” Jade couldn’t bring herself to voice the thought aloud. She clenched her teeth, and the weight on her chest grew heavier. “They got along fine.” Her voice was harder now and she glared at Axel. “They were brothers—of course they didn’t get along sometimes, but Zorman wouldn’t do anything to hurt Papa. He didn’t do it.”
Axel cleared his throat again. “I just… I know they didn’t always see eye to eye on the business. And Basalt, obviously.”
Jade felt like he’d taken a hammer to her chest. “What do you mean?”
“It always sounded like Magnus never forgave Zorman for his role in Basalt’s death,” Axel said.
Jade shook her head. “What are you talking about? Basalt was killed in a Yrax attack. Zorman had nothing to do with it.”
Axel swallowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise… I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Basalt was killed in an accident, off-world.” Axel’s eyes swam with pity. He reached out for her hand but Jade snatched it away. “He went somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be, at Zorman’s suggestion. Your father was furious with Zorman. If he hadn’t encouraged him, Basalt wouldn’t have—”
Jade’s chest ached, the heavy weight threatening to suffocate her. The well of grief inside her threatened to break open again. She clenched her teeth, tensed every muscle in her body and shook her head decisively. “Basalt’s death was an accident. Even if what you say is true, Zorman wouldn’t have done it on purpose. You don’t know him.” Jade’s voice wavered and she took a breath to steady herself, looking down at her clenched fists, smeared red. “Anyway, it wouldn’t achieve anything for Uncle Z to kill Papa. I was his apprentice. Everyone knew Papa was leaving Gariq Industries to me—eventually.”
There was a long pause.
“Who’s heading it up now?” Axel asked, quietly.
Jade’s mouth went dry. The world tilted and refocused again. Jade closed her eyes and shook her head. With effort, she swallowed. “It wasn’t him. It isn’t him.”
24
Jade walked back to the Temple in silence. Axel made a few attempts at conversation but Jade met them with silence and he finally stopped trying. She felt his gaze every now and again, like an itch on he
r neck, but wouldn’t meet his eye. She was still confused about her feelings towards him, and she couldn’t trust her traitorous heart. Listening to his inferences about Zorman—even thinking about them—felt like betrayal of her beloved uncle.
Uncle Z had never done anything but look out for her. Entertaining the mere suggestion that he was involved felt like a breach of trust. No, it was someone else. Someone with a grudge against Papa, or the company. One of Vance’s superiors gave an order—maybe Denger? That made more sense.
The track narrowed so they couldn’t walk two abreast and Axel slipped in behind her as they wove their way through the tightly knitted trees, then around the bubbling, muddy swamp around the Temple. Jade swept the vines aside to clear a path, stepping over the exposed tree roots as she approached Kapelton from the south-east. This time, she noticed the camouflaged water channel when she came across it and jumped over.
As they approached the swamp, Jade saw movement on the other side of the Temple. Jade squinted into the late afternoon light as it cast elongated shadows over the ground. The shadow showed a figure strung between two others, being dragged or maybe held up. There was something different about the person being carried, but it took Jade a few moments to work it out. Then she gasped.
The person was winged.
Jade shaded her eyes with her hand, peering through the low sunlight. Had Terana’s group captured a Traveller? Jade quickened her pace, as something tight wove around her chest. They’d always killed Travellers and left them on the beach. What had changed? The conversation in the Temple gnawed at her and she remembered DivineOne’s questions about torture. The Premyans wouldn’t resort to those methods too, would they? But then why would they bring a Traveller here?